Although I started several times with this book, it didn't capture my interest and could keep going with it. The idea seemed promising and I liked how the author started, but it wasn't what I expected. Maybe in the future I qill give it another chance since it isn't a "bad book".

L. Daniel Hawk’s, “The Violence of the Biblical God,” is a phenomenally well-written book of depth and complexity that tries to make biblical and theological sense of how God is, and is not, involved in the violence depicted in the Hebrew Bible. I appreciated Hawk’s pushing back against the simple readings of divine violence—either it was human made stories or all accounts should be taken literally (many times without context). He definitely makes the complexity of divine violence readily apparent, yet still seeks to remain faithful to a fairly conservative reading of the biblical text. Hawk’s call for Christians to prioritize Christ’s teaching on love and non-violence are taken into account (thank God), and they are emphasized for our Christian theology and practices for today, even though Hawk believes God did, for a time, sanction violence, and carry it out Himself on occasions (especially toward the people of God due to their waywardness). While Hawk’s thoughts are wonderfully articulated, in the end, it is still hard for me to believe a God of love accommodated, used, or engaged in violence at all to carry out his plans for Israel and the saving of the world. While Hawk pushes back on the “God is always like Christ, and has always been like Christ” hermeneutic, Jesus is still the yardstick for me when trying to understand the character and nature of God. Therefore, while I recommend his book to every interested reader on this topic, I still have to part ways on his insistence that God used violence and engaged in violence to carry out God’s plans. That being said, Hawk’s book gave me a lot to think about. After all is said and done, I still highly recommend his book!

Hawk delves into examining not just the instances in the Bible where God is either directly or indirectly involved in violence, but tries to explain the motives behind it. Just think for a second of how often you've wondered at *why* God would do something or the other, and we're not settling (for the most part, anyway) with the "they were wicked" reason.

The author will likely not have been the first to present God to the reader as a deity that yearns for a relationship with people, but Hawk is adept at putting an interesting slant to it; he tracks God maneuvering within covenants, going back and forth on whether or not he should just cause an extinction event and start over again.

The condensed versions of the stories here put things into perspective. You begin to understand (or re-discover/re-affirm) that we, as a people, are bound for misbehaving and won't stop until we've screwed everything up. God, in his wisdom, must evolve his attempts for a connection, and that sometimes entails war and divine violence...sometimes that means that God just needs to go have a breather.

Hawk makes his own suggestions for why God punished/afflicted/destroyed throughout the Bible, and also warmly invokes the reader to keep an open mind; that, whether or not you're a pacifist or one that would do what was necessary to uphold Christian ideals, that all need to confer, and that there's room at the table for absolutely everyone in this discussion.

I've never had the opportunity to look at the Old Testament at this angle. It's been an incredibly valuable read for me, and you're in for a very contemplative (and possibly mind-blowing) read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company for the advance read.

The file didn't work at first but once I opened it in another app, this proved to be a fascinating, explorative read that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in theology and faith!

Ethical and thoughtful, this book explores an issue that stumps even seasoned theologians. I appreciated the level of support and research the author used in constructing this exploration.